


moonshine

by bestofwaifusbestofwomen



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alcohol, Established Relationship, Human Trafficking, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Rough Kissing, Sexual Tension, both of which are mentioned in the most clinical manners, nothing happens to anyone dw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:40:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28440012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bestofwaifusbestofwomen/pseuds/bestofwaifusbestofwomen
Summary: “We’ll call it a date night,” he said with his palms cupping Mello’s chin.Near was sitting on top of a desk, face shadowed by the many monitors behind him. Mello, settled neatly between his legs, ran his hands up Near’s thighs. “You call a night out doing surveillance ‘a date?’”He tilted his head, eyes wide. “Do you not know how to multitask?”Prompt: For Mello/Near, a story where they’re undercover at a bar and start tailing someone outside. To prevent themselves from being spotted, cue make out in an alley.
Relationships: Mello | Mihael Keehl/Near | Nate River
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26
Collections: Death Note Secret Exchange 2020





	moonshine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anakien](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anakien/gifts).



> i hope you like it!!!

The bar is a hole-in-the-wall kind of nightclub, with sticky countertops and stickier glasses, and strobe lights that flicker and flash across the room in random intervals. People move together in a sweaty mass in the center of the dance floor; Mello leans over and mutters “Wanna dance?” into Near’s ear just to snicker at the vague look of disgust he gets in response. 

But, no. Even if either of them _wanted_ to, tonight they had a mission.

Residing in the seediest part of Seattle’s Chinatown, _The Lost City_ was a central hub for various underground dealings. Among those were aphrodisiacs and date rape drugs that moved hands from manufacturerers to linchpins, and from there into the drinks of future mail-order brides. There were several men involved in the operation. Mello, Near, and the rest of their team had managed to pinpoint three of them: David Smith, Jason Liu, and Emanuel Rivera. Undoubtedly aliases, but identifiers nonetheless. Catch any of them taking part in an _exchange_ , and Mello and Near could blow the entire operation apart — all they needed was a testimony.

As it turns out, though, eyewitness accounts are hard to come by when everyone is hellbent on keeping mum. So, one evening, Near came up with an idea.

* * *

_“We’ll call it a date night,” he said with his palms cupping Mello’s chin._

_Near was sitting on top of a desk, face shadowed by the many monitors behind him. Mello, settled neatly between his legs, ran his hands up Near’s thighs. “You call a night out doing surveillance ‘a date?’”_

_He tilted his head, eyes wide. “Do you not know how to multitask?”_

_Lover be damned, Mello was getting tempted to bite through the bone of Near’s thumb as it swept over his lips. He settled for taking it into his mouth and sucking instead._

* * *

_So._ Blue eyes sweep across the room, long since having gotten bored. Mello takes a sip from his rum and coke. Clearly uncomfortable beside him, Near almost seems to curl around his own drink. _Some date_ **_this_ ** _is shaping up to be._

If nothing else —he amends, looping an arm around Near’s shoulders and pulling him closer— at least they look good together. Courtesy of himself, of course. Near probably would’ve come in his usual attire if the decision had been left up to him. Pajamas, messy hair, curious expressions and all. 

No, scratch that. At least they both looked _legal,_ now. 

Regardless, they were still having trouble blending in, standing off to the side as they were. 

He takes another disgruntled sip of his drink as a man wearing a half-bun enters the main room. Mello’s attention immediately latches onto him. 

Jason Liu, age 37. 

He touches a hand to the choker on Near’s neck, pulls on it slightly. “ _Found him,_ ” he says in quiet Portugese.

Near’s lips curl upwards in excitement. “ _Good,_ ” Near replies in kind. He slips a hand into the back of Mello’s jeans and squeezes just hard enough to earn a glare. “ _I want to get closer._ ” He sets aside his beer and turns, a mischievous half-smile playing at the edges of his mouth. In English, “I suppose I’ll take you up on that offer from earlier.”

Mello’s eyes narrow. _Near, what are you thinking…?_ “My pleasure,” he manages before the other detective sets off for the dancefloor. 

There’s nothing subtle about the way Near pushes his way through the crowd, and just the shine of the lights on his hair is enough to draw Mello’s gaze away from Liu as he struggles to follow. Focusing so heavily on the other must have been a mistake, however — a clubber upends half their drink onto him when they happen to collide. To make matters worse, Near reappears at his side as easily as he’d disappeared, lightly teasing, “ _Alcohol is supposed to go in your mouth, Mello._ ”

“ _I realize that. Thanks, Near._ ” Mello lifts his wrist to his mouth and tentatively licks, internally grinning at the way Near’s ever attentive eyes darken and go half-mast. “ _‘s not bad._ ” 

He sees Near’s attention dart away from him, then—

Going up on the balls of his feet, Near hangs his arms around his partner’s neck in a too-loose-limbed imitation of drunkenness. His breath is scentless —his drink had gone untouched all night— and it leaves nothing to focus on besides the resulting dampness and heat that meets Mello’s ear as Near murmurs, “ _The target is leaving the area through the back entrance._ ”

Mello looks around, quickly relocating the stout Asian man. Sure enough, he was just stepping out the door. He places a hand over Near’s shoulder blades in a kind of caress, hissing, “ _What, you thought I wouldn’t notice?_ ”

“ _You looked distracted. Was I wrong?_ ” A sharp nip to his earlobe, then Near pulls away with an affected — _dizzying_ — quirk to his smile and a touch of brightness to his eyes. “Shall we?”

Mello scowls as the other man slips away from him.

Seattle’s winter is sharp as they step outside, the cold air hitting his nose and cheeks with a special kind of vengeance after the warmth of the bar. The pair of them take a moment to glance around, Mello hardly daring to breathe in case his good ear happens to miss a sound. 

Quietly, they hear the scratch of shoes against pavement. 

Mello jerks his head in that direction and, at Near’s nod, takes off with Near close at his heels. They stick to the shadows to avoid arousing suspicion, never more than a few meters behind Liu. When he finally stops in front of a nondescript van, they step in sync into the dark of a narrow alleyway, creeping to the edge of the brick wall to watch. The back doors of the van open and out come— 

_—he’s turning this way—_

—Near pulls him deeper into the alley. 

The only other warning Mello gets is the glint of Near’s teeth as he grins, sly and stark under moonlight, before Near drags him downwards by the collar for a kiss. Their lips meet, teeth clashing harshly — Mello’s back hits the other wall with enough force that it shoots molten arousal down his veins. _Ah, shit._ He fumbles for the gadget in his pocket and sticks it to the wall-space next to him, then crawls his hands underneath Near’s shirt just to feel him shiver.

Near’s fingers reach up to tangle in and pull hard at Mello’s hair, half-lidded eyes watching the bob of his throat before Near sucks at his neck, insistent— Mello lets out a quiet moan that’s quickly cut off by another kiss. Biting at the blond’s lower lip, Near pulls away just far enough to whisper, “Careful. We don’t want to get caught, now do we?”

“Shut _up,_ Near. Shut up, _shut up—!_ ” Grabbing his forearms tight enough to bruise, Mello spins until the other man’s back is hitting the wall —Near’s breath stuttering in surprise— and pins his wrists up against it. He tastes the heat of the other’s mouth, swallowing down the soft noise he makes, and moving his tongue molasses-slow against Near’s until the fog begins to clear from his head.

He pulls back, panting slightly but wearing a smirk at the way Near chases him out of the kiss. Still, he gently rubs the other’s wrists in silent apology as he lowers them. The air around them lowers by several degrees as Near relaxes against the wall, breathing hard through his nose. “That hurt, Mello.”

His smirk disappears. “Sorry. Are you—”

“No, I—” Near’s eyes open, revealing charcoal pupils blown-wide. “I meant that I liked it.”

Sparks shoot down Mello’s spine.

He works to clear his throat, and manages, after a few seconds, “Still. We should… try to be more careful. In the future.”

“...sounds good.”

Near twists a strand of hair between his fingertips. Mello tries to will his heartbeat back to normal. Offhandedly, he notices how silent the night’s become.

Near straightens up, suddenly alert. “The _target!_ ” He looks around the corner at where they’d last seen Liu, biting down on a reddened lip. “I shouldn’t have gotten so…”

“Distracted?”

Turning pink at the reminder of his earlier teasing, Near throws a cold stare Mello’s way, whose only response is to smile back, cat-like.

“ _‘Distracted,’_ yes.” He sighs. “He’s gone. We’ve lost the target.”

Near goes into a crouch, hugging his knees to his chest in a forlorn manner, and Mello immediately decides that that’s enough wallowing in self-pity for one night. He brushes his hand through his hair, starting, “Well…” and wincing when he hits a tangle Near’s fingers had caused. “No, not exactly.” He frees his hand, then gestures to the tiny camera he’d stuck to the wall. Matt had handed it to him before they left headquarters earlier that night, citing _this is a date, after all!_ with a shit-eating grin. “Check this out.” 

Near’s eyebrows shoot up his forehead. He leans in, inspecting the gadget before turning to look over his shoulder with a slight smile, genuine and warm. “That was very clever of you, Mello.”

The soft-spoken compliment has Mello’s face flushing a brighter shade of red than it has all night. “Fuck off,” he mumbles. He takes the camera off of the wall and shoves it back in his pocket, huffing.

He can still hear the smile in Near’s voice as he responds, “Alright.” Thin, pale fingers interlace between his own. “We should go home.”

Mello finally looks at him, heart skipping a beat at the way Near almost seems to glow in the evening’s darkness, and concedes. “Yeah,” he says. He clasps their hands just a bit tighter together. “Home it is.”

* * *

moonshine ( _n_ )

moon·shine | \ ˈmün-ˌshīn \

Definition of _moonshine_

1 : _moonlight_

2 : empty talk : _nonsense_

3 : intoxicating liquor, _especially_ : illegally distilled corn whiskey

(via [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moonshine)!)

**Author's Note:**

> and then they probably fucked :p
> 
> my apologies to anyone named david smith, jason liu, or emanuel rivera – i swear i don’t have anything against those names >.< umm, it was my first time writing smth so… spicy?? so i hope i did well.
> 
> let’s see… special thanks to my friend, [jean](https://twitter.com/fuburyo), for reading this over for me, haha!! oh, and the playlist for this fic can be found [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvTYSgrji6xA-svdjJQQmN8kEJFuRHc08)!! thanks for reading!!


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